L.I.R.R. Is Asked To Reduce Noise

The New York Times - Sunday, August 31, 2003

BY TOM CALVIN

The idling trains' diesel engines rumble for hours at a time as many as six or seven of them and sometimes all through the night as they wait for their next run up the Island. The harsh thrumming of the engines is relentless, and their diesel vapors waft into the air.

All this in Montauk, where the loudest noise is supposed to be the crashing surf.

Tom Bogdan, the Montauk Anti-Pollution Coalition's chairman, is pushing the L.I.R.R. to cut noise from deisels in its Montauk yard, below.

The newly formed Montauk Anti-Pollution Coalition aims to accomplish what its members say other campaigns have failed to do - persuade the Long Island Rail Road to stop using the rail yard next to the Montauk train station as waiting room for trains. But the railroad says that turning the engines off is impractical, and that there's nowhere else to park the trains.

The Montauk station is surrounded by hotels, motels, restaurants and private residences. Tom Bogdan, the chairman of the group, said that the diesel engines are never turned off and there are always out-of-service trains idling on the side tracks, 365 days and nights a year, with the summer and fall being the most objectionable times.

"It ebbs and flows because obviously there are fewer trains off-season," Mr. Bogdan said. "However, the trains that are there run all night long regardless of if it's July or January. Say it is a seasonal thing. It's still important to Montauk, and we're still suffering the noise and air pollution."

The Montauk group has sent to Peter Kalikow, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a part-time resident of Star Island in Montauk, a voluminous report that includes copies of correspondence, a petition bearing several hundred signatures, maps of the affected areas in the hamlet, and even a soundtrack of the idling diesel engines on a compact disk.

"We do not dispute the fact that the L.I.R.R. provides efficient inexpensive transportation to and from Montauk and the East End of Long Island," the report states. "However, the L.I.R.R. is also the single largest source of industrial noise pollution and related anti-environmental activities in this extraordinarily beautiful part of Long Island. Through continuous and unnecessary idling of its diesel engines, the L.I.R.R. has created a psychological and physical public nuisance."

The Montauk group's efforts are being supported by other organizations and individuals in the hamlet, among them the Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the town-appointed Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee. Bill Akin, president of the Concerned Citizens group; said his organization had tried for years to change the railroad's habits at Montauk.

"We took a shot some years ago, and even got the East Hampton Town Board at the time to send a letter to the M.T.A. saying they wanted this problem resolved," Mr. Akin said. "The M.T.A. wrote back and said we can't change things because it's easier to let the engines run than shut them down and have to start them up again hours later. Other than that, the town can't do anything because it has no jurisdiction over the property."

Mr. Bogdan added: "There has been as lot of unhappiness for a long time, but the complaints were fromm individuals, they didn't know how to organize. There were plenty of complaints, but no concerted effort. Now we've got one."

Janice Nessel is the general manager of the Montauk Manor, a former hotel converted into a condo with 140 suites, 45 of them facing the train station. Guests, Ms. Nessel wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to the M.T.A., "are outraged at the sound levels that go on throughout the night" and want a refund. "Over the course of years, the loss of thousands of dollars by Montauk Manor can be directly attributed to the long-term and overnight idling of L.I.R.R. diesel engines."

Brian Dolan, a Long Island Rail Road spokesman, said the agency understands that there could be some inconvenience, but said it can take hours to bring a diesel engine from a cold start to the correct running temperature. "It comes down to keeping the compressors running for air-conditioning during the warmer months in addition to the time-consuming process of getting engines ready to work efficiently," he said.

Mr. Dolan stressed that Montauk residents should not feel that the L.I.R.R. is ignoring their concerns. "Where we can shut the trains down, we do," he said. "We have taken steps recently with increased staffing to help ease that. We're watching the situation, we are looking at different steps we can take. Every year we work more with East End towns on improved service, and the area is important to us."

Russell Smith, the group's attorney, said he believes the decibel level emitted by the trains exceeds that allowed in the town's noise pollution law. Asked, how the town could enforce a law on the L.I.R.R., which is exempt from town regulation, he replied: "Just because they're the railroad doesn't mean they can break any laws. If a conductor hits someone, that's assault. You can't hide behind 'I'm the railroad.' What's happening in Montauk is just a different form of assault."